Title Analysis- North by Northwest

Title Analysis- North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock

In the next few weeks, my group and I plan to add opening titles to our opening thriller sequence. For inspiration, one of the title sequences I have decided to analyse is North by Northwest. This is because Alfred Hitchcock thriller films are very well known and loved by many, and so perhaps I can take inspiration from this.

 

The order in which the titles appear:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents

Cary Grant

Eva Marie Saint

James Mason

In Alfred Hitchcock's

North by Northwest

Co-starring Jessica Royce Landis

Written by Ernest Lehman

Music by Bernard Herriman
Director of photography Robert Burks

 

The opening title sequence begins on a green background with black lines slowly appearing, overlapping the green background. This is very unusual of an opening sequence to be graphics and especially green, because the colour green isn't usually associated with the thriller genre. However, this does initially make the audience wonder the significance of this colour. The duration of the opening sequence is 2 minutes 8 seconds, so if we can, my group and I should aim to make our opening sequence for around this time.

The first part of North by Northwest.
 

This film was made in 1959, and so the titles are not as sleek as they would be if this film was made today. However, the titles are still exceptionally good considering how old this film is. The first title to appear is in a bold, white sans serif font. This is particularly effective because it contrasts against the green and black lines. White always seems to look professional and effective and so this is something my group and I could consider when creating our opening thriller sequence. Something else to note is that the first title which appears names the production company, and so this is something my group and I should include first in our opening thriller sequence. As well as this, the title is at the angle of the lines, almost as if it is sitting on them, which looks very effective.

The first title that appears.

Soon after the name of the director/producer- Alfred Hitchcock appears onto the screen of the opening titles. This time, the font is slightly bigger. However, the style of the font and the colour are still the same. The consistency throughout the opening sequence is effective and this is something I would like to do in our opening thriller sequence.

The producer/director

Something that is effective is that the green background changes to railings, with cars travelling on the ground below. The same effect is used, as the titles continue to sit on the wire mesh. Again, the title font and colour still remains the same. The new background adds to the narrative enigma as the audience wonder the significance of this.

The new background can be seen here.

The background then changes again to portray every day people in a city, going about their every day lives. This is effective because the normality indicates to the audience that something strange is likely to occur. This is because with the genre of the film being a thriller, this scene appears to be too normal. The titles are indicating to the audience that this is fictional, which is effective because already, the audience are beginning to question how intense this film is likely to be.

This is the scene which appears to be normal.

The clip analysed shown below: